CL.1032 Alexander Malash Veteran receives flags in recognition of his war record.
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Local vet remembers price of war
Original Source PIMA ID Donor ID Category
Richard Jordan Atkinson na G-CL-1035 G-CL-OCR

Warren Weekly February 12, 2003 - 3A
Peter Schamante, 79, of Warren, was a B-26 gunner during World War II. He flew 75 missions as a tail, waist and ballturret gunner between 1942 and 1945.

Photo by David Schreiber

Local vet remembers price of war

By BRIAN C. LOUWERS C & G STAFF WRITER

WARREN - On the eve of a possible war with Iraq, those who have been in combat know far better than others the price that has been paid in wars past.

Peter Schamante, 79, of Warren, is a local veteran who knows just how lucky he was to return from Europe after World War II, where he flew an astounding 75 missions with the U.S. Army Air Corps' 397th Bomb Group. Schamante, an engineer gunner for his squadron, flew from the base in South Hampton, England, with many different B-26 crews. Together, they carried out a plethora of key missions in the European Theater, targeting factories, ammunition depots, German V-2 rocket facilities, and bridges - so many bridges, in fact, his group was dubbed the "bridge busters."
Schamante remembers well the destruction the war caused on the ground and in the ranks of the 397th He recalled a mission over Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1944 where he saw the plane next to his destroyed.

"This guy asked me if he could come with us, and I said, 'No, but you can go with my wingman," Schamante said. "And he never came back. That plane disintegrated right off the wing."
He also remembers how he was called away from a plane that was later shot down.

"They took me off that plane and it didn't come back. One of the guys landed in the ocean. They were loading him into a boat and he apparently broke his arms and legs," Schamante said. "He went right back to the states. Words can't explain how lucky I am to be alive."

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Schamante and his squadron attacked coastal guns in the sector around Les Dunes De Verreville. On Aug. 13, 1944, the group attacked a marshalling yard essentially a railroad yard and ammunition depot - in Corbiel, France, where they caused extensive damage, igniting 200,000 pounds of German high explosives that left a 30-foot deep crater measuring 360 feet by 120 feet.
Today, Schamante attributes his very survival in history's largest confrontation to following orders. He said he'd like to share his stories with young people who haven't witnessed such events.

"They need to know that this is real," Schamante said. "I'd like to tell them lo finish their education. I'd like to tell them to listen to those in charge, listen to whatever they tell you, because you never know when you're going to need it."

Schamante lives with his wife, Congetta, and they have many children and grandchildren.

Schamante's flight jacket and other memorabilia are part of a display at Warren's City Hall honoring the city’s veterans.

Internet Doicument: Richard P. Ellinger

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